Combet pins hopes on low dollar to keep factory open

Former federal industry minister Greg Combet says maintaining a manufacturing operation at the Holden factory site in northern Adelaide will be viable if the currency stays below the current rate.
Photo: Bryan Charlton

by
Simon Evans

Former federal industry minister
Greg Combet
says it is “quite possible’’ that Holden’s Adelaide factory site might be used by another speciality vehicle manufacturer after 2017 – if the Australian dollar settles below its current rate of around US88¢ for an extended time.

He says maintaining a manufacturing operation at the Holden factory site in northern Adelaide will be viable if the currency stays below the current rate, and finding alternative uses for the site is one of the major planks in his strategy.

“It is quite possible,’’ Mr Combet said.

Options might include the manufacture of military vehicles to dovetail in with the state government’s focus on the defence sector.

Mr Combet said the assistance package outlined by Mr Abbott on Wednesday falls short of what is needed, and while he didn’t nominate an exact figure he signalled the required amount was likely to be close to $1 billion.

He said $500 million was stripped out of the federal government’s Automotive Transformation Scheme, while the Gillard government had put in place another $215 million in co-investment.

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“In that context, $100 million falls a fair way short of what’s really needed here,’’ Mr Combet said.

“Adjustments like this are easier if you’ve got a growing economy,’’ he added.

Car union boss John Camillo, the state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, said assistance packages needed to be carefully targeted, citing mistakes made with funding after Mitsubishi shut down in early 2008.

“Yes, there were some mistakes on Mitsubishi,’’ Mr Camillo said.

He was referring to situations where employees who went to work for a business that had received government funding for employing them were made redundant after 12 months because the funding ran out. The business would then hire another ex-Mitsubishi person because it would receive new funding.